Archive for the ‘Footie’ Category

Simba and Nala and their pride of lions must be upset that their brand has been tarnished by two of our nation footie sides.

The Cubs covered themselves in disgraceful in Brunei,

When Singapore’s national Under-21s completed their Group B fixtures at the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy in Brunei on Monday, their report card was a compilation of sorry statistics.

For the first time in the history of the tournament the team lost all their games and lost them heavily – a five-match string of defeats (0-4 to Vietnam, 1-3 to Cambodia, 1-3 to Brunei, 0-3 to Malaysia, 0-6 to Indonesia).

The side also scored the least goals (two) and conceded the most (19).

Meanwhile, the Lions XII, are not living up to their name or their success under Super Sub. After a disappointing Malaysian Super League campaign, the LionsXII once again tasted bitter defeat on Saturday (Aug 23) evening. They lost 2-1 to Johor Darul Takzim II in the Malaysia Cup at the Pasir Gudang Stadium in Johor Bahru. (CNA).

Seriously, I hope the recent failure of the LionsXII after the team’s previous success, puts an end to SPH’s and MediaCorp’s championing and spinning of Fandi as the saviour of local footie. He was a very gd local footballer and a decent man who has had his share of gd and bad fortune. But as for the constructive, nation-building media’s attempt to spin him as “super coach, the saviour of local footie”, well the results speak for themselves. It’s not as though the media didn’t know of his failings in the smake pits of Iskandar.

What really annoys me is that Super Sub never got sufficient credit from our local media for his handling of the LionsXII. Compare their praise of him against that of their praise for Fandi. And the local media is always making excuses for Fandi. He’s not a bad coach (He’s a pretty decent coach) but the failure of our local media to hold him to account is disgusting.

While all S’poreans, disgusted with million dollar salaries for ministers should be cheering for the Argies.

It’s all about the money the managers earn relative to their performance. Argie’s mgr is only 22nd in the World Cup managers” salaries ranking while the other three teams are 4th Brazil), 6th (Germany) and 8th (my favourite).

The Argie mgr is paid only 20.45% of the salary of the Brazilian manager. A certain PAP MP eye doctor would surely sneer at him if he consulted said eye doctor.

Here, I explained why the World Cup is proving the PAP wrong: there is no relation between high pay and gd performance.

In round 1, the teams managed by the three highest paid managers were eliminated. The teams were Russia, England and Italy.

The managers are paid £6.7m, £3.5m and £2.6m, respectively. (Data from UK paper, hence the £)

Other mgrs on the top 10 most well paid list that were eliminated were Spain (mgr is the 7th most highly paid at £2m) and and Japan (9th at £1.6m). For the record, Portugal’s mgr is 12th at £1.3m.

I went on to analyse the other games where less well-paid managers won. Thiink Costa Rica.

But the PAP can still say the World Cup validates the salary thesis esp if Brazil wins. So come on Argies.

Of the remaining four managers, Brazil ‘s mgr is the fourth most highly paid manager at £2.4m, Germany’s mgr is paid £2.1m (6th), Holland’s mgr (8th in the world) at £2m, and a long way away is the Argies’ mgr (22) at £0.49m.

But the stats say Germany will win. Beating Brazil in semi and Argies in final.

Not juz because Brazil is missing Neymar with a fractured bone in his spine sustained against Colombia.

Breakingviews’ updated Soccernomics calculator … which crunches economic and demographic numbers to predict the outcome of World Cup matches, has performed reasonably well during the first half of the tournament. It predicted the correct winner in 27 of the 48 matches in the group stage. Excluding drawn matches, the calculator was right 69 percent of the time. [Got Italy and Spain wrong though]

On-field form plays no direct part in Breakingviews’ predictions. The model combines the transfer value of players, the country’s population, the proportion of people who play soccer, and public engagement with the sport to come up with an overall rating. Teams with the higher rank should win.

Another reason why Argies will not win: geriatric squads don’t win the World Cup. a four-place drop in performance (see chart). In other words, if a reigning champion simply brought back its roster from four years before, its mean age would increase by four years, and it would be expected to finish a dismal 17th. http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2014/07/player-age-football

More evidence (as if more was needed) to show that the PAP is talking rubbish about the link between ministerial salaries and the quality of ministers. It doesn’t work in World Cup footie. The PAP would be praying hard that Argies don’t win.

BTW, I’m hoping for an all ang moh final with Holland winning. And it’s not ’cause the German coach is paid more.

With the World cup starting today (tomorrow morning our time), one thing I know, is that, our elite anti-PAP cyber-warriors are not footie fans. That can be the only explanation why they have not be sounding the alarm on how the PAP PA is trying to attract younger, non-elite S’poreans by screening footie games. The PAP, unlike these cyber-warriors realise that football is the new opiate of the masses

A few weeks ago it was reported that the People’s Association (PA) publicised which Community Centres will be hosting screenings of first-round World Cup games. CNA reported, According to a table released by the PA on its website on Monday (May 26), all 30 Centres participating in the live screenings will televise the first match involving host Brazil and Croatia on June 13.

More recently there was an announcement that the total number of CCs screening the matches ‘live’ would be increased to 40 and that more matches will be shown.

40 Community Clubs (CC) islandwide will be showing World Cup matches live and for free as well. Buona Vista CC for instance, will screen the matches in its multi-purpose hall, which has a seating capacity of 300. There will also be fringe activities such as football-related contests. In a statement earlier this month, the People’s Association said it hopes the sessions will inspire community bonding. It also hopes to ignite passion for football. (CNA on Tuesaday) Err what about helping PAP connect with younger S’poreans?

And there’s more. There will be a PAP PA 2.0: The Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC), previously announced last year at the National Day Rally, held a short brief for potential volunteers* …

The PA is increasingly showing its age. Example: In 2012 the defeated PAP MPs for Aljunied GRC Mrs Lim Hwee Hua and Mdm Cynthia Phua stepped down as grassroots advisers to Aljunied ”grassroots organisations” to be replaced by 71- year old Professor Brian Lee and 62 year old Mrs Daisie Yip both much older than the two defeated PAP MPs. I said, Oh dear, are things so bad at the grassroots in Aljunied that the People’s Association can only find two extremely old chickens (too old for the slaughter-house) to replace the defeated PAP MPs who were no spring chickens themselves? https://atans1.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/pap-in-aljunied-grc-no-room-for-young-blood/

This is a far cry from the days when PA “organisers and activists”, as LKY called them, were trained in PAP ideology and in how govt ministries worked, and sent to community centres to organise recreational, cultural and social events. The idea was for them to become via the organising of these activities, the “natural” community leaders.

The YVC seems to be a return to the PA of the 1950s and 60s: Young Singaporean and PR volunteers (aged between 15-35) in the Youth Volunteer Corps attend a short residential camp and volunteer for semesters of service (from 3 – 6 months) for either local or overseas community projects. The programme, built from existing NYC programmes such as the Youth Expedition Project (YEP) will entail volunteers working in ‘diverse’ teams to create community service solutions to serve critical, broad community needs: education, health, special needs, arts, sports and heritage, and environment. Volunteers will be matched to interests they wish to pursue, and they will be provided with resources from partnering NGOs and government, particularly the $100 million National Youth Fund which the YVC will tap into.

Hitler had his V1 (today’s cruise missiles) and V2 (today’s ICBMs) secret weapons . Are televised footie and the Hitler LKY Youth Volunteer Corps the PAP’s secret weapons for winning back Aljunied and Punggol East in the next GE*. In addition, of course, to one PritamS. BTW, I’m glad that the WP has cottoned on to the danger of PritamS. As recommended here: If WP is smart, they should lock PritamS in a padded cell, and when the next GE is called, announce that he will not be standing again. He is a liability in a party with men of substance and quiet achievement like Low, Show Mao and JJ.

Yes say I: The choice facing the owners (Jewish and Zionists and mortgaged to their eyeballs) BTW) was stark

Would they really back Moyes for the long term by handing him a transfer kitty worth as much as £100m to invest in rebuilding the squad?

Or would they decide giving all that money to him was too big a risk?

Would anyone sensible trust Moysie with that kind of $ based on this season’s performance which was the mother of nightmares? BTW, I waz happy he was the Chosen One. What was or went wrong: everything http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27109742

No, say the stats and SAF’s cardinal rule of footie mgt.

Ter Weel analysed managerial turnover across 18 seasons (1986-2004) of the Dutch premier division, the Eredivisie. As well as looking at what happened to teams who sacked their manager when the going got tough, he looked at those who had faced a similar slump in form but who stood by their boss to ride out the crisis.

He found that both groups faced a similar pattern of declines and improvements in form.

While Ter Weel’s research focused on Dutch football, he argues that this finding is not specific to the Netherlands. Major football leagues in Europe, including England, Germany, Italy and Spain also bore out the same conclusion – teams suffering an uncharacteristic slump in form will bounce back and return to their normal long-term position in the league, regardless of whether they replace their manager or not.

And his theory seems to work if you look at what happened to other clubs in the English Premier League last season. The same week in March which spurred Sunderland to change the personnel in charge, Aston Villa were sitting at 17th in the table, struggling against relegation.

In the same way that water seeks its own level, numbers and series of numbers will move towards the average, move towards the ordinary.”

This what AlexF said on the opening night of Ferguson’s book tour, on an October evening at the Lowry theatre, and what he told his audience about the management profession. “It’s a terrible industry. When clubs sack a manager there is no evidence it works. But there is evidence, and it’s hard evidence, that sticking with your manager does work. This is an important issue and it is something I believe in, very strongly. Sacking a manager does not help.”

Well obviously MU isn’t listening. Some serious money (borrowed I may add) is at stake.

Related article: Long ball is betterest:

His data suggested that most goals were scored from fewer than three direct passes, and he therefore recommended the widely-despised “long-ball” game.

In other words, the ugliest type of football imaginable. Hoof the ball forward, hope you get a lucky break, and poke it into the net.

“Unfortunately it kind of brought statistics and football into disrepute,” says Chris Anderson, author of The Numbers Game, an analytical and historical look at the use of data in football.

…

Now, behind the biggest football teams in the world, lies a sophisticated system of data gathering, metrics and number-crunching. Success on the pitch – and on the balance sheet – is increasingly becoming about algorithms.

The richest 20 clubs in the world bring in combined revenues of 5.4bn euros ($7.4bn, £4.5bn), according to consultancy firm Deloitte. And increasingly, data is being seen as crucial to maximising that potential income by getting the most from football’s prized investments – the players.

I’m sure you read about the lunch PM had with the FT. PM was going thru dad’s Hard Truths as interpreted by a faithful, dutiful son.

Did you notice this?

I fight off an urge to reach across and grab a couple of his raspberries. Under most circumstances, this would be a faux pas but it would be a particularly gross move with a Singaporean …

A regular TRE poster pointed out, Gideon Rachman wrote that he “fight off an urge to reach over and grab a couple of his (LHL’s) raspberries”. Don’t know for sure if he intended it but “raspberry” is British slang for making a fa-rting sound by blowing thru pursed lips. In effect he may be underhandedly saying LHL is talking bull. The joke is on LHL on this one.

Gideon Rachman (Ex-Econonist) is one of FT’s finest, in a team full of brilliant, irrelevant people. The PM’s team must have been mad to let him anywhere near our PM who can barely manage to handle our local running dogs reporters and editors.

…

I had wanted to bitch blog about minister Wong’s comments about SingTel doing NS so that we could watch World cup footie. Fortunately some subversive at Today published this

Consumers pay the price for aggressive SingNet bidding

From Gary Chua Sheng Yang

Published: April 16, 4:12 AM

It was said in Parliament that the high prices for the 2014 World Cup broadcast here was due to Singapore being a price-taker from FIFA. (“S’pore can’t set lower World Cup prices: Minister”; April 15)

What was not considered, though, was SingNet’s behaviour in acquiring the rights for such content. In trying to acquire subscribers, SingNet has, in the past, bid aggressively for the English Premier League rights, winning at a high cost.

Competition in the cable television market, in its current form, has thus disadvantaged consumers in the past few years in terms of the prices for offerings such as the EPL and the World Cup. The argument that FIFA and the Premier League are price-setters seems flawed. Would they not have accepted lower offers if those had been the only offers on the table?

MU owners and fans are still behind Moysie despite a season that is worse than the worst nightmares. Nice of fans to cheer him at Old Trafford last night. And they may be right to remain sanguine.

Ter Weel analysed managerial turnover across 18 seasons (1986-2004) of the Dutch premier division, the Eredivisie. As well as looking at what happened to teams who sacked their manager when the going got tough, he looked at those who had faced a similar slump in form but who stood by their boss to ride out the crisis.

He found that both groups faced a similar pattern of declines and improvements in form … he argues that this finding is not specific to the Netherlands. Major football leagues in Europe, including England, Germany, Italy and Spain also bore out the same conclusion – teams suffering an uncharacteristic slump in form will bounce back and return to their normal long-term position in the league, regardless of whether they replace their manager or not.

There is one item that affects both locals and expats that Tharman, and Nicolas Fang and other members of the constructive, nation-building media running dogs don’t tell us Utility bills are also listed as big-ticket items by the EIU, but there is not much anyone can do to save there. Unless, of course, one were to turn off the air-conditioning.

The human rights issue? The cost of watching footie: We now know the cost of watching the coming World Cup but remember that EPL and Champions’ and Europa leagues watching ain’t cheap: M’sia and HK are a lot cheaper. For that we have to thank SingTel’s aggressive bidding, its corporate ambitions (err its run by true blue S’poreans not FTs) and Yaacob’s finest at MDA.

But let’s be fair, the strong S$ that makes it cheap for us to shop in JB and other Asean cities has played its part in making S$ S’pore that expensive: Singapore, which has seen its nominal exchange rate appreciate by 40 percent over the past decade, will obviously have higher U.S. dollar prices. But that only matters to the shrinking group of expatriates who are paid in greenbacks. Most consumers care about costs in the currency in which they earn their living.

Here’s another good point: [These surveys] fail the simple test of people revealing their preferences by their decisions. Imagine a company that used the EIU study to ask its employees in Mumbai to tone down their wage expectations in 2014. They will make a beeline to recruiters’ offices – to search for jobs in Singapore.

Majulah Singapura. Despite what TOC and TRE readers claim, S’pore’s an attractive place: I’m still here for starters. So is Jack for all his grumbling. The PAP must have done shumething good? Right Jack? Think about that when S’pore Inc jacks up GST, utility bills, tpt fares, utility bills etc despite the budget surpluses or profits..

Let’s leave the last word to Banyan:

Much has changed in this part of the world since the original writers of the Lonely Planet series chose Singapore as the place to hole up and write their second volume: South-East Asia on a Shoestring. In sum, to survive on $10 a day (well, a bit more) in Singapore these days: don’t touch the cars, drink beer instead of wine, bake your own bread and eat your meals out at the hawker centres. And then it’s all a bit more reasonable. Which is more than can be said of foregoing the air-con.

————-

*World Cup costs from yesterday’s BT

All 64 of the matches will be free for people who either sign up for – or extend existing – mio TV Gold Pack contracts or standalone Barclays Premier League (BPL) contracts for 24 months.

The Gold Pack is a combination of entertainment and BPL content on the mio TV platform. The standalone BPL content package is available to both mio TV and StarHub subscribers.

Viewers who want a World Cup-only deal will pay a one-time price of $105, excluding GST. This is the most expensive World Cup fee to date – 19 per cent higher than the pre-GST price of $88 and 59 per cent higher than the early-bird price of $66 for the 2010 World Cup.

2014 World Cup pricing for business owners will be announced “shortly”, the operator said.

(Or How PAP is connecting with S’poreans without the anti-PAP paper warriors noticing)

Football fans on Saturday evening indulged in free screenings of the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and Hull City at community clubs across Singapore.

At Yio Chu Kang Community Club, some 20 fans turned up at the beginning of the match at 8.45pm.

More spectators gradually streamed in as the match progressed.

It seemed residents simply relished the chance to catch the game without having to pay anything.

One of the spectators said: “It’s because of the ridiculously expensive prices that one has to pay to watch English football these days and I also have a bit of time to kill.”

The screening of the match was opportunity to build communal bonds through the platform of shared spectatorship.(CNA three/ Sundays ago)

Err more like trying to tell people that find it expensive to subscribe to SingTel’s EPL package that the PA PAP are making sure that the high cost of watching EPL is mitigated, and come GE2015/2016, vote PAP.

All those TRE and TOC reaaders, and other anti-PAP paper activists be frustrated, very frustrated. Soon, the clubs will be showing games when United, Sity, Gooners and Chelsea play one another, not juz uninteresting games.

But if not for me, our intellectual paper warriors would be clueless on this PAP move (has anyone blogged or commented on this piece of news?. The said kay pohs (and their readership in TRE, TOC) don’t watch footie, and are still fighting GE 2011. Guys, the PAP is moving on for GE 2015.

Wonder if SingTel will allow the WP town council to screen such matches too, or only restricted to PAP PA venues? Sadly WP MPs won’t even bother asking: too busy looking at their bank statements. They too wear white.

But all is not lost. The usual tua kee blogging suspects should remind S’poreans that watching EPL is expensibe ’cause

— two TLCs (SingTel and StarHub) out into a bidding war for the EPL rights;

— the PAP’s govt competition rules made this possible, may inevitable. Tot competition riles were to keep prices down?

Well whatever the truth of that, at least FTs have not rioted in M’sia. Taz, the message MediaCorp’s ST Lite has reported on an inside page: The police and Immigration Department have been put on alert at foreign worker enclaves across Malaysia after the riot in Singapore last week, the country’s Home Minister said in a report in The Star newspaper yesterday …

Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said officers have been instructed to monitor areas where foreign workers congregate, especially those identified as potential hot spots for outbreaks of violence.

…

Dr Ahmad Zahid was quoted by The Star as saying: “We are always observing the activities of foreign workers and are ready to overcome any potential threat … We are also looking at workers’ quarters nationwide, so the public need not worry.”

Locations under surveillance include landmarks in the heart of the capital, such as the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, which houses the iconic Petronas Twin Towers.

Between May 30 and June 4, three Myanmar nationals were killed and several others injured in fights in various areas in Kuala Lumpur. The authorities subsequently arrested more than 1,000 Myanmar nationals during raids in Kuala Lumpur and parts of Selangor. [Had to tell us this]

But ST Lite saboed our govt’s attempts to say that there was no evidence working conditions were a cause of the riot (How ministers know leh? If so why call CoI?) by reporting: Growing discontent among foreign workers in Malaysia due to poor working conditions, discrimination and low wages is like a “time bomb”, Bernama yesterday quoted the leader of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) as saying.

MTUC President Khalid Atan said the riot in Singapore should serve as a wake-up call and the organisation called on the Human Resource Ministry to hold a tripartite meeting between the government, employers and employees to map out a strategy to prevent rioting by foreign workers.

He said the MTUC felt the government should take steps to reduce and even curtail the recruitment of foreign workers until it has a plan to address their basic needs and rights.

Anyway, let’s cheer on our LionsXII. Looks like the game against Laos was the exception due to the courage of Laos’ ten men. Credit to Laos, not shame on our LionsXII. If our XII do well in this tournament (gold medals) Fandhi will have a problem. But taz his problem, not ours.

(Correction: My friends tell me that the ISA will not be used: It will be the Criminal Law Temporary Provision Act. This too allows dention without trial. Used for drug cases too. Sorry, never was gd at criminal law)

The coming deafening silence of the usual human rights kay pohs will tell us a lot of their prejudices: they are supportive of FT drug mules, and middle class anti-PAP activists. But not working class criminal suspects (no-one is complaining that Vui Kong’s alleged drug lord is held under ISA CLTPA) or those whom the govt alleges are Islamic radicals. Touch a FT or a middle class anti-PAP activist, and the screams will be deafening, even if it’s juz a policeman paying a home visit.

Dan Tan’s home, even his car (a BMW 735) were well known to the authorities, but until they had evidence that a crime had been committed on Singaporean soil the police were powerless to act.

In the wake of the Italian reports, the Singaporeans made requests to police forces in Italy, Hungary, Germany and Finland to share what evidence they had. But cross border co-operation between prosecutors proved painfully slow.

It took months and in some cases more than a year for documents to be shared while approaches to speak to key witnesses have still, in some cases, gone unanswered.

All that time Singapore’s detractors sharpened their knives. The apparent inaction was criticised, with some even suggesting a high-level conspiracy to protect the alleged master match-fixer living in their midst.

Those with knowledge of the investigation say the truth is more mundane. It has simply proved very difficult to find those brave enough to testify against Dan Tan and his powerful syndicate.

…

The defecting members of the syndicate are too scared to testify in person so the police are hoping to use draconian security laws from the 1950s to keep the suspects in custody.

In the next few weeks all the evidence that has been gathered against the syndicate will be presented behind closed doors to the Ministry of Home Affairs and then an advisory council, before a final decision is made by the president.

If all agree that the suspects should remain under “preventive detention”, then Dan Tan and his associates could be held for years without ever having the evidence tested in a court of law.

Under huge pressure to act, the Singaporeans say they’ve now “cut the head off the snake”.

Glad team was “lucky”. The results of recent M’sia Cup games got me looking up Wikipedia to check if the Super League title the team won recently is a rubbishy title. It isn’t. And wondering if Indon team was that bad.

Hope the “lucky” win changes the team’s fortunes. The 12th man in LionsXII is us the fans, no-one else. Certainly, not the bookies.

Nice to see that Sundram is wanted by Negri Sembilian. Wish him well, whatever he decides. And die-hard Fandi fans, pls don’t demand that he be made coach. His tenure at Johor, where money was not an issue in getting players, shows he ain’t the great coach that his fans die, die insist he is.

There are still two weeks remaining before the transfer window closes, but, with the help of our European football analysts, we look at some of those who have arrived early and will be seeking to establish themselves in football’s richest league.

And don’t think badly of Rooney’s behaviour. What it shows is that his loyalty lies with Everton. After he moved to MU, an Everton fan told me that after any MU match, he would check how Everton did or was doing, if it had a match. He had to move on from Everton to improve his skills, earn more $ and win trophies. But his heart is always with Everton. A true blue fan.

Glad to read in ST that the newish coach (who was a tua kee in the brutal East German sporting system) is culling the older Lions. As regular readers will know, I’ve long wondered why the likes of Bennett (now that’s a FT where the “T” stands for “Talent”) were doing in the team. Granted he’s not a gd example of oldie as defenders can go on and on, unlike strikers. But still …

Given the performance of LionsXII, it made even more sense to cull the older Lions to make way for younger, leaner and hungrier predators players.

BTW, while it’s sad that Fandi keeps getting humiliated (read today’s ST), I hope it puts to rest the assertion among those brainless fans, who hating the PAP more than they love local footie, that he’s the answer to all our footie under-performance. He was boss of this region’s Shitty*, yet couldn’t secure a trophy or even get the team to qualify for the Asian championships.

Maybe the gods decided to punish Fandi because in the SDP’s case, it was for a “right” cause, unlike the papers who only want to increase sales while giving him no peanuts.

—

*Manchester City ‘s EPL’s nickname. The team like Johor throws money at any problem. At least in City’s case it worked for one season. BTW, ever tot of the MU, City rivarly as an extension of the historical row between the Jews and the Arabs, or between the frugal and the big spenders? BTW both races are shrewd traders.

S’poreans working together can win regionally without having FTs where the “T” stands for “Talent”. Of course having “talents” from elsewhere helps.

And bringing in FTs where the “T” stands for “Trash” like Lee Bee Wah and Fool Me doesn’t do S’pore, let alone the PAP, any gd.

And for me (and I suspect many other patriots) winning int’l trophies with foreign ping-pong gladiators who then retire in Beijing don’t make me that proud to be a S’porean. The wins remind me that there are other richer nations out there with more money to spend on even more prestigious trophies in sports that have a wider global following.

— superstitious fans (like me) groaned afraid that he would be siaw for team;

— the usual suspects were bitching that he was trying to tupang the popularity of the team for the PAP.

Well LionXII won in style, and so the former (self included) were wrong.

As to the usual suspects, I’m sure if he wasn’t present, they would be bitching that he only watches sports where FTs represent S’pore, like ping pong. Either way, they would criticise him because they hate all things PAP, and are not willingly to accept that 60% of voters (a very sizable majority) voted for the PAP. BTW, I voted for the Opposition juz as I have all my life.

Thankfully for S’pore these people don’t have the balls to take action: they are only passive grumblers.

Coming back to PM’s attendance. I’m glad he attended because love of footie (EPL, La Liga, Champs and Europa Leagues, World Cup, National teams’ games and street games) is something that most S’poreans share: the money rows between SingTel and Starhub show this. He may not love (or even like footie) footie but by attending he recognises that many of us do, that footie, not ping pong, is our national game.

And he should reflect and repent on his “PAP loves FTs” policy*. Many yrs ago, his dad complained bitterly that when S’pore met China in basketball in S’pore, S’porean Chinese were cheering for China. Well I want to ask PM, “If PRs** from M’sia were attending, who would they vote cheer for?” Certainly not for LionsXII.

He cannot have a “FT rules OK” policy, while building a national identity. Something has to give.

—

*I’m not convinced that the govt is sincere in its promise to cut back its “Operation FTs swamp S’pore”. I’m sceptical.

**Most PRs are M’sian Chinese. They are not happy with being second class citizens in M’sia but refuse to became S’porean citizens. Remember the M’sian that was the first “S’porean” to climb Mount Everest? He did become a citizen, but very reluctantly it has been alleged..

Remember that a great Arsenal mgr once said, “Strikers win games, defenders win trophies”. No not that wanker Wenger.

BTW, Sundram although you are a gd coach, pls don’t talk cock. Based on last yr’s results, LionsXII were contenders for trophies this season. And no-one ever tot team was cock, though S’poreans were concerned FAS would let FTs sabo the team. Didn’t happen. Glad that “S” in FAS stands for “S’pore” not “Serbia”.

Without informing nor receiving permission from his superiors at the Singapore Police Force, the defender joined the LionsXII in Kuantan. He was punished by being put in detention for four days.

The FAS will convene a Disciplinary Committee hearing to discuss further sanctions on the player, though a time has yet to be set. In the meantime, Shakir is suspended from all football activities. His future with the LionsXII and national squad and his participation at this December’s South-east Asian Games are in doubt.

Stange, the Lions coach said, “(Shakir) is a very talented player and I have my eye on him and he will have my fullest support to learn from this. If you want to live in this beautiful country, with safety and all such things, you need National Service, and players have to learn they cannot make such mistakes. That is why I think he should be fined for what he did and that’s it.”

Hear! Hear! And make the fine a small one.

Don’t punish him because FAS lost face. The incident showed it has admin issues.

By conventional financial yardsticks, the club is grossly overvalued at $3bn (£1.9bn) while also carrying £368m of debt. Now that the most reliable asset is giving up front-line duties, the stock deserves to be a double “sell.”

The valuation issue is basic: revenues were only £320m last year and half that sum was paid straight out as salaries. At the operating level, profits were only £44.9m. That entire sum was then consumed by finance costs of £49.5m, leading to a pre-tax loss of £4.7m. Naturally, there was no dividend …

Ferguson kept the club in the Champions League every season and collected trophies. In doing so, he made the Glazers’ optimistic financial assumptions work.

For the record, I admire Moysie’s track record at the Toffees and respect MU for choosing him, not not some European super star manager management consultant who only know how to spend money to win trophies. MU bought homegrown talent, not FT.

Keep up the gd work. Show the FAS that the “S” stands for S’pore, not “Serbia”. And that S’pore has home-grown talent that can whack the M’sians. And that S’poreans welcome FTs where the “T” stands for “Talent” not “Trash” as in case of SGX.

Coming to SGX, waz point of having FTs as MD and COO (and wanting FTs for six more posts as of late last yr) when 60% of daily volume comes from retail investors (ST report today)? FTs were brought in to bring in foreign biz, not to live off the fat of local punters.

Thinking about it, the Filipinos have an interesting FT policy that S’pore should think about. Their FT footie boys play in the lower European leagues: there being no footie in the Philippines where basketball rules.

This is what the SDP said in response, “Yes, and what for? To feel rich? Under the SDP Plan, Singaporeans don’t just have to feel rich. They can have their NOM flats and not be indebted for the rest of their lives. They can have financial security and lead fulfilling lives.” http://yoursdp.org/news/sdp_responds_to_lee_kuan_yew_on_housing/2012-11-07-5435

No comment about about SDP’s plans (this is what ST reported “experts” say): thinking about it. But it sure got great PR people team. Maybe PAP or govt should offer them jobs? MP Baey should recruit them for his firm? Can’t be good for H&R’s local and Asean practice that SDP is running rings round PAP and govt? The Dark Side can offer serious money, unlike the SDP. Unless of course, the rumours of CIA funding are not true. An SDP groupie assures me that CIA funding rumours are juz rumours. SDP as poor as Anglican church mice. Catholic church mice got serious money, what with Tony Tan (the president, not Hazel Poa’s hubbie) and George Yeo as members. Goes without saying that Methodist mice got $. Think Ng Eng Hen and wife (SingHeath CEO), and TJS’s in-laws.

One can call it an indictment of Singapore’s lack of striking options, or a testament to his ability to still find the net at his age … Aleksandar Duric, at the ripe old age of 42, will still be leading the Lions’ attack in their international friendly … as the lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation because his other options are injured.

“People say he is old, but look at the way he has been performing for Tampines Rovers.

“Week in, week out, he has been giving his best and he has been scoring the goals, too. Physically, he is in good shape and his strength is in holding the ball and drawing the attention of at least two defenders.

“That makes the work easier for his other team-mates who play up front,” says S’pore’s injured skipper and striker, Shahril. (Italics from MediaCorp)

More FTs like him, and less of the Amy Cheongs, Romans, and ang moh caws who beat up S’poreans and abscond, and S’poreans would not have problems with FTs.

Relax guys. Juz go out and make sure that Armed Forces don’t score. And try to nick a goal. We can’t expect more than that.

BTW, I smell a rat in the plan to dismember the LionsXII squad. FAS and its Serbian coaches afraid that LionsXII (an almost all local affair) will show how FAS and the Serbian mafia have wrecked our local teams? The govt and S’poreans should remind them that the “S” in FAS stands for “S’pore”, not “Serbia”.

On totally different issue, relax Young Lions. Playing winning football, not attractive football. Fans will forgive you if you play ugly and get into finals. And remember, other side has more to lose than you.

So with Sity owned by the Arabs, EPL title is shaping up to be another Arab-Israeli conflict. Or Allah versus Yahweh. Last season, Allah won, but only because manager and strikers went to mass (Roman Catholic version).

Our under-16s lost 4-1 to Ajax Amsterdam’s under-15s at the Jalan Besar Stadium in the finals of a tournament. The Dutch side gained revenge for their group stage loss.

Given that the Ajax youth teams like that of Barcelona, Arsenal, MU and Everton are well-known for developing young talents for the first 11, and in the case of Everton for sale to richer clubs (one Rooney was sold, restoring the club to reasonable health), beating one of their youth teams is an achievement, even if the Cubs lost the return match.

— SGX’s dark pool joint venture Chi-East closed in May as business volumes were weak and unlikely to improve.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong exchange agreed to buy L.M.E. for £1.38 billion (US$2.16 billion). It outbid several American rivals, including NYSE Euronext, for control of the 135-year-old London firm. SGX found the valuations too rich to play. To be fair, so do investors in the HKEx. Its share price dropped. But its plans to introduce Yuan-based contracts and Chinese players into the LME could work. Then the LME price would be cheap*.

So Germany beat Greece, and are into the Euro semis, which reminded me that even footie facts are misrepresented by the nation-building, constructive ST to promote government’s FT is “betterest” policy (See below. To be fair, ST published the rebuttal. Balls-up or subversion? Or someone with a conscience?). Is nothing sacred? What next? Footie scores get misreported? More likely is that goals scored and saves made attributed to players that fit ST’s agenda of nation-building, constructivism.

I am exaggerating? Look at an ST report of WofflesGate: [in relation to the incident in September 2005,] . . . Wu got Mr Kuan, then 76, to tell police that he was the driver of a car speeding at 95kmh on Lornie Road. Mr Kuan is said to have lied again about a speeding offence committed at 9.45am on Nov 10, 2006. The car was then travelling at 91kmh on Adam Road.

The speed limit in both instances was 70kmh and involved Wu’s car. Court papers did not state who the actual driver was.

The court heard that a notice was sent to Wu to reveal the identity of the driver. Concerned that he would accumulate demerit points were he to accept liability for the speeding offences, he roped in Mr Kuan, then a maintenance technician in his clinic. Now 83 years old, Mr Kuan was also described as a close family friend of the doctor. He has not been charged.

The report makes it clear implicitly that Woolly Wally was the driver by stating that hr was concerned about getting demeit points. Yet we now know that both the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Law minister said that investigations were ongoing, as to who the driver actually was; and that the case has not been concluded.

Funnily, ST has not retracted its story. Nor have the authorities asked for a retraction. These are four mysteries that need to be explained to convince S’poreans that the rich are not different.

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Read the u/m in ST Forum about two weeks ago.

Go for local football talent

CONTRARY to what the report (‘Talent mining in the sports world'; May 25) implies, Germany does not have an official programme recruiting foreign-born footballers.

Klose moved to Germany at age seven, while Podolski did so at two. Both are therefore home-grown German players.

The only non-native player recruited by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) who can be considered home-grown is Daniel Bennett, who came here as a toddler.

Many Singaporeans rightfully question the ‘Singaporean-ness’ of foreign sports talent, something that even Bennett himself is concerned about.

He was quoted two years ago in the Singapore Armed Forces Football Club official website as saying: ‘I am more Singaporean than many of the other foreign players who took (up) citizenship more recently, as I grew up here and it’s my home.’

Apparently concerned by the excessive use of imported players contravening the spirit of the game, football’s world governing body Fifa tried to introduce regulations in 2008 to restrict such usage.

Unfortunately, the FAS remains stubbornly persistent with its push to recruit more foreigners. It claims foreign sports talent plug the gaps in its youth development programme (‘Change of heart by NSAs'; May 28).

Our national football administrators should find answers to why, after almost two decades of S-League football where would-be Lions play with and against foreign players weekly, and years of employing foreign technical directors, the FAS is still struggling to develop quality international-level talent.

It is impossible to prove, but perhaps native and home-grown players strive harder for their country.

I nearly had a heart attack a few minutes ago when I was skimming thru ST. The Lions plan to field a geriatric ang moh striker in the coming game against M’sia. I mean even Alex Ferguson doesn’t field 41-year old strikers. Mid-fielders and defenders are different. The best age well like Gigsy, Maldini and Barasi. So having Bennett back could be a gd move.

FAS, what about replacing Roman? If he had been one of ancient Romans, he would have committed suicide long ago to atone for his failures. In S’pore, he gets his contract renewd while the players get sacked. This is not international best practice in footie.

Even the PAP got rid of BG Yeo from its mgt when he failed to hold Aljunied. And “retired” Wong, Ramond Lim and Mah Bow Tan for not being “popular” enough.

Bill Ng, who is fronting a S’porean consortium’s bid for troubled Glasgow Rangers, is right to be wary of the syndicate being tipped by the media as the front-runner to win the bid for Rangers

As footie fans will know, Scottish footie is very nationalistic. There are also very serious undertones of sectarianism, racism (interesting distinction between racism and racial discrimination discussed here) and violence. So last yr’s brawl involving Hougang United and Bill Ng’s subsequent comments could count against the consortium because it could give rabid nationalists and racists an excuse to demand rejection of the bid on the ground that Bill Ng would not be a “fit and proper” owner of Rangers despite the tradition of violence among the club’s fans.

In May last yr, match officials were forced to abandon the tie between hosts Hougang United and defending champions Etoile FC before kick-off, after players from both teams started fighting during the warm-up session. Witnesses MediaCorp spoke to said the scenes resembled a gang fight, with players chasing each other and some rushing onto the terraces.

Bill Ng, the chairman of Hougang, said he was angry and would conduct an internal investigation.

Anyway, for bringing the game into disrepute both clubs were fined S$10,000, with S$5,000 suspended so long as they steer clear of trouble this year. They were also docked five points each.

Ng said Hougang would not let the matter rest, claiming the fine imposed on the club and points deducted were unfair. The “evidence … is not concrete” and the FAS disciplinary committee failed to take into account the actions of club officials to diffuse the matter. He also grumbled that the disciplinary actions would make it difficult to attract new sponsors.

Hell’s bells, whatever the provocation, his players were brawling. Surely that is wrong?

(Or “S’poreans Boleh: Hougang boy can own a part of Scottish history”)

So the S’pore consortium fronted by one Bill Ng*, chairman of footie team Hougang Hooligans (Does the team have WP as a sponsor? PAP not likely to sponsor a team that fights on the field?) is now the favourite to win the bid for Rangers.

The Blue Knights consortium seeking to gain control of Rangers says it is “stepping back” from the process. It was the orginal favourite. The group led by former club director Paul Murray says it cannot compete with Bill Ng’s consortium.

Ticketus, the firm whose money financed Craig Whyte’s takeover, with funding set against revenue from future season ticket sales at Ibrox, has been working alongside the Blue Knights but has also opened talks with Ng.

And the Blue Knights claim its Singapore-based rival had made the offer of a “substantially” better deal.

BTW, Bill Ng shld make up his mind whether he was a Rangers fan from his school days; or only became a fan abt 10 years ago. He has told reporters both these conflicting versions.

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*When he was in stockbroking, he was known as “Brudder Bill” or “Billy Boy” or “Billy the Kid”. When an ex-employer heard that he is reputed to be worth US$80m, he laughed and said he might remind Bill that he, Bill, had debts to settle, and to touch Bill for a loan, “He’s worth a lot more and I”. He also added, “Everyone’s now in private equity” when he heard Bill claimed to be in private equity.

FAS is trying hard to justify why our local footballers and coaches are no damned gd. Well they are not paying attention to what the Lions XII are doing. But then Sundram is not an ang moh from Serbia. He is juz yr ordinary S’porean. Worse he is a local Indian, not one of the Aryans. His team performs but as he isn’t an Ang-moh, not an FT Indian, so he must be lucky, FAS must be thinking.

Meanwhile, the rot continues.

Well look at Chelsea. It was really having a rotten season. Then the owner decided to sack the manager, and appointed his deputy to see through the season. Well the season has turned round and Chelsea beat Benefica away. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17441653

Chelsea fans and the owner can juz smell a European League final.

So maybe FAS, juz change the top guy. He has had years to prove himself.

In January 2011, after the footie authorities disbanded the national team after a dismal showing in the 2010 Suzuki Cup, but kept the manager, and promised the start of a rejuvenation process, I wrote “Managing people, the S’pore way”.

Well under the same manager, but with different players, the Lions have lost all six games in the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

So I republish what I wrote then. Let’s hope this time the footie authorities stop their Serbian tua kee and FT loving ways. Pigs would fly first methinks.

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Managing people, the S’pore way

In the English, Italian, German and Spanish footie leagues, if a team does badly, the manager gets the sack. The view is that the manager is responsible for managing the players to get them to perform at thier best.

In S’pore, the manager retains his job, the players get the sack, even if the manager has been around for almost a decade.

In Western democracies, the ruling party gets replaced if voters are unhappy.

In S’pore, the ruling party creates GRCS, then super-GRCs, all the time telling the voters they are daft and lazy. And, juz to make sure, imports voters. Reminds me of what Bertold Brecht, a famous playwright and Marxist activist wrote:

After the uprising of the 17th of June

The Secretary of the Writers Union

Had leaflets distributed …

Stating that the people

Had thrown away the confidence of the government

And could win it back only

By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier

In that case for the government

To dissolve the people

And elect another?

He was writing about the East German government after its soldiers had shot some protesters.

At least here, the unhappy voters are not shot, juz ignored, and threatened with a military coup if there is a” freak election result”.

The Zambian footie team won the African Cup. Along the way they beat three West African teams, Ghana , Senegal and Ivory Coast (in the finals).

More than half the men in the three west African squads play for clubs in England, France, Germany, Italy or Spain …, which boast the world’s best leagues. In theory, the Zambians looked much weaker: most play at home, in South Africa or in the Democratic Republic of Congo; only two are with European clubs—in Russia and in Switzerland, which are far from the best. The captain, Christopher Katongo, the player of the tournament, turns out for Henan Construction, in China. So much for statistics: on Sunday night, precision from the penalty spot, and no little emotion, mattered more.

I knew our footie teams were not gd. But I didn’t know they were this bad, winning in 2011 only 24%, or seven of 29 matches, across all age groups. The full national squad won only one of seven games (14.2%) played this year, not counting friendlies.

A year ago the Lions team could only remain in the group stages of the AFF Suzuki Cup, and the players and coach Radojko Avramovic were criticised. Our footie authorities did shumething unique, not seen in footie. They sacked the team but kept the coach even though the coach had been around for a decade. When an EPL, Serie A or La Liga team does badly, the manager (we call him “coach”) gets sacked. They don’t dismiss the players and build a new team around the manager.

But if the Lions are replaced again, but the Lions’ coach remains unchanged, it would again remind me of what Bertolt Brecht German and Marxist playwright and poet wrote. After an uprising in East Germany that was brutally crushed, he wrote:

After the uprising of the 17th of June

The Secretary of the Writers Union

Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee

Stating that the people

Had forfeited the confidence of the government

And could win it back only

By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier

In that casefor the government

To dissolve the people

And elect another?

And while I’m on failure in sports, three cheers for Dr Tan Eng Liang. After the SEA Games in November, he clinically and dispassionately assessed the athletes and sports bodies, giving grades A to D based on medals won, or not won. He gave a D to eight sports – sepak takraw, weightlifting, archery, basketball, football, golf, dragon boat and petanque. They didn’t win a single medal.

He said, “I will make some recommendations to the SNOC and expect the players and NSA (national sports association) to do something with the situation. There could be tightening of selection criteria for example, sports that didn’t get any medals, we might be more strict with selection.”

As taxpayers money and national pride are involved, he is right expect high standards from the sports bodies and athletes.

The antics of the Glaziers (the owners of MU, in case you are not into footie) in trying to ensure that post-IPO, they can “fix” minority shareholders reminds me of the PAP’s attempts in the late 1980s to restrict the choice of voters.

When faced with the possibilty of losing more than a few seats in Parly, they resorted to Group Representative Constituencies (GRCS), where voters were forced to vote for a group of MPs headed by one (possibly two) cabinet ministers, not an individual MP. Over the years, the system was used to introduce such MPs like Rin Tin Tin (aka Kate Spade), “Waz so great abt NS?” Puthu, and “No money, no dignity” Lim. GRCs worked for the PAP until this year, when the PAP lost a GRC, losing five seats. Two cabinet ministers and one junior minister lost their seats in Parly.

Well the attempt to introduce two classes of shares (with different voting rights) and when that failed, to issue non-voting preference shares (that unusually do not carry a dividend that is fixed and cumulative*) indicates that the Glazers are just as concerned as the PAP about the consequences of the unwashed masses having the vote to push them around.

Too bad for conspiracy theorists that the Glaziers are Jews. Otherwise, it could be spun that they are related to one Harry Lee, the master architect of the GRCs.

But seriously, there is a link that conspiracy theorists can spin around. Our very own SGX that has been assidiously courting, then faciltating the Glazers, is 23.5% owned by Temasek. Temasek cannot vote its Temasek shares, but that’s only a detail to conspiracy theorists. After all, a senior SGX official was from Temasek. And Temasek’s president was SGX’s ex-CEO. And conspiracy theorists know who owns Temask, don’t they?

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*These characteristics make them more like common shares. The reason why preference shares carry fixed dividends and why dividends are cumulative is to make them safer investments. And to compensate holders for the absence of voting rights, and the inability to share in the gains that can accrue to ordinary shareholders. Absent dividends that are fixed and cumulative; they are like common shares absent the voting rights and the potentially unlimited upside.

To be fair though, if the company is liquidated, the preferential shareholders will have priority over ordinary shareholders when assets are divided. Unless the Glaziers have gotten rid of this too,